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Space Station Under Construction

Space Station Under Construction: Building a Ship Outside a Shipyard

09.09.06

Image above: Backdropped by the blackness of space and Earth’s horizon, this full view of the International Space Station was photographed by a crew member onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in August 2005. Image credit: NASA

It’s not your typical shipbuilder’s site. In fact, it’s not your typical ship. There are no outfitting piers or full-service bulkheads. No sights of yellow hard hats or sounds of beeping trucks with back-up alarms. However, men and women are at work, harder now than ever before.

International Space Station Assembly Sequence

Construction of the world’s largest ship sailing the skies, rather than the seas, at more than 5 miles per second is under way. The International Space Station began with the launch of the Zarya control module in November 1998. Since then, the massive structure in the sky has grown into an unprecedented construction site.

“It’s like building a ship in the middle of the ocean from the keel up,” said Mike Suffredini, NASA station program manager. “You’ve got to float and you’ve got to sail. All this has to occur while you’re actually building the ship, and that’s what station is like.”

With the remaining shuttle missions, NASA will embark on a series of flights as difficult as any in history to complete the space station.

"The flights ahead will be the most complex and challenging we've ever carried out for construction of the International Space Station in orbit," Suffredini said. "The station literally becomes a new spacecraft with each assembly mission, and that will be true starting this year with dramatic changes in its cooling and power systems, habitable volume, utilization capability as well as its appearance."

Image to left: In the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., an overhead crane lowers the space station's port 3/4 truss segment into the waiting payload canister for installation in the orbiter Atlantis. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

The station is nearly halfway through assembly. The next four flights will bring new truss segments, massive structural support beams, to the complex. The new segments will increase the mass of the station by almost 40 tons, the maximum weight of an 18-wheeled semi-truck.

Two of the trusses include huge sets of solar array wings, totaling more than 17,000 square feet. With a wingspan area the size of a national standard hockey rink, the panels will carry 130,000 solar cells. The new segments include giant rotary joints to allow the tips of the station "backbone" to move as the massive panels track the sun.

Together, the new arrays will add 50 kilowatts of power for the complex, enough electricity for a small housing community. The increased electrical power will set the stage for the addition of European and Japanese laboratories that will far surpass any previous research capability in space.

Image above: Computer-generated scene showing a high-angle wide view (port-forward) of the International Space Station, after assembly work is completed. Image credit: NASA The current station represents only a fraction of its eventual capabilities. Between now and station completion: • The volume and mass of the station will more than double. The space station will be larger than a five-bedroom house with a cabin volume of 33,023 cubic feet. When completed, it will have a mass of almost a million pounds. • The number of research facilities on the complex will more than triple. The percentage of total power dedicated to research will increase by 84 percent. • The total power generated by the complex will almost quadruple. • The station's truss, currently 134 feet long, will grow to 354 feet, the longest man-made object to fly in space. • To construct the station, more than 100 international space flights will have been conducted on five different types of vehicles launched from four different countries. • More than 140 spacewalks, totaling nearly 800 hours, dedicated to assembly and maintenance of the space station will have been completed. That is more spacewalks than were conducted in all of U.S. space history before construction of the station began. • There have been 115 space shuttle flights, of which 18 were dedicated to the space station. With 15 remaining assembly flights planned to the station, more than one-quarter of all shuttle flights will have been dedicated to station assembly.

The installation of the new truss segments and unfurling of the arrays require unprecedented robotic operations. Those operations will use the shuttle and station's Canadian-built mechanical arms to delicately maneuver school bus-sized station components into place.

The operations will rely heavily on the station's mobile transporter, a sort of space railway that positions the robotic arm along the truss to install the components.

Later this year, the station and shuttle crews face a unique challenge to activate a permanent cooling system and the new power sources.

They must rewire the orbiting laboratory and change its electrical supplies without interrupting the continuous operation of any of its critical systems. Once the power grid is in place, additional shuttle flights will launch a connecting node and the European and Japanese laboratories.

"The assembly of the station on these flights has no parallel in space history," Suffredini said. "We have planned, studied and trained for these missions for years. We know they will be hard, and we may encounter the unexpected. But we are eager to get started, and there is tremendous excitement building in NASA and among our international partners."

The station's assembly and maintenance in orbit, the long-duration spaceflight experience gained aboard the complex, and the research into the effects of long spaceflights contribute to NASA's plans for future missions to return to the moon and travel beyond.

 

 

 

How to build a moon base

Building a Moon Base

by Ian O'Neill on February 7, 2008

So, we want to go to the moon. Why? Because the Moon is an ideal “staging post” for us to accumulate materials and manpower outside of the Earth‘s deep gravitational well. From the Moon we can send missions into deep space and ferry colonists to Mars. Tourists may also be interested in a short visit. Mining companies will no doubt want to set up camp there. The pursuit of science is also a major draw. For what ever reason, to maintain a presence on this small dusty satellite, we will need to build a Moon base. Be it for the short-term or long-term, man will need to colonise the Moon. But where would we live? How could we survive on this hostile landscape? This is where structural engineers will step in, to design, and build, the most extreme habitats ever conceived…

Manned missions to Mars take up a lot of the limelight insofar as colonization efforts are concerned, so it’s about time some focus is aimed at the ongoing and established concepts for colonization of the moon. We currently have a means of getting there (after all, it is nearly 40 years ago since Appollo 11) and our technology is sufficiently advanced to sustain life in space, the next step is to begin building… In this first installment of “Building a Moon Base”, we look at the immediate issues facing engineers when planning habitats on a lunar landscape.

The debate still rages as to whether man should settle on the Moon or Mars first. Mars is often considered to be the ultimate challenge for mankind: to live on a planet other than Earth. But looking down on us during cloudless nights is the bright and attainable Moon. From here we can see the details of the lunar landscape with the naked eye, it is so close astronomically when compared with the planets, that many believe that the Moon should be our first port of call before we begin the six month (at best) voyage to the Red Planet. It also helps as we’ve already been there…

Opinion has shifted somewhat in recent years from the “Mars Direct” plan (in the mid-1990s) to the “Moon First” idea, and this shift has recently been highlighted by US President George W. Bush when in 2004 he set out plans for re-establishing a presence on the Moon before we can begin planning for Mars. It makes sense; many human physiological issues remain to be identified, plus the technology for colonization can only be tested to its full extent when… well… colonizing.
Understanding how the human body will adapt to life in low-G and how new technologies will perform in a location close enough to home will be not only be assuring to lunar colonists and astronauts, it will also be sensible. Exploring space is dangerous enough, minimizing the risk of mission failure will be critical to the future of manned exploration of the Solar System.
So where do you start when designing a moon base? High up on the structural engineers “to do” list would be the damage building materials may face when exposed to a vacuum. Damage from severe temperature variations, high velocity micrometeorite impacts, high outward forces from pressurized habitats, material brittleness at very low temperatures and cumulative abrasion by high energy cosmic rays and solar wind particles will all factor highly in the planning phase. Once all the hazards are outlined, work can begin on the structures themselves.
The Moon exerts a gravitational pull 1/6th that of the earth, so engineers will be allowed to build less gravity-restricted structures. Also, local materials should be used where and when possible. The launch costs from Earth for building supplies would be astronomical, so building materials should be mined rather than imported. Lunar regolith (fine grains of pulverized Moon rock) for example can be used to cover parts of habitats to protect settlers from cancer-causing cosmic rays and provide insulation. According to studies, a regolith thickness of least 2.5 meters is required to protect the human body to a “safe” background level of radiation. High energy efficiency will also be required, so the designs must incorporate highly insulating materials to insure minimum loss of heat. Additional protection from meteorite impacts must be considered as the Moon has a near-zero atmosphere necessary to burn up incoming space debris. Perhaps underground dwellings would be a good idea?

The actual construction of a base will be very difficult in itself. Obviously, the low-G environment poses some difficulty to construction workers to get around, but the lack of an atmosphere would prove very damaging. Without the buffering of air around drilling tools, dynamic friction will be amplified during drilling tasks, generating huge amounts of heat. Drill bits and rock will fuse, hindering progress. Should demolition tasks need to be carried out, explosions in a vacuum would create countless high velocity missiles tearing through anything in their path, with no atmosphere to slow them down. (You wouldn’t want to be eating dinner in an inflatable habitat during mining activities should a rock fragment be flying your way…) Also, the ejected dust would obscure everything and settle, statically, on machinery and contaminate everything. Decontamination via air locks will not be efficient enough to remove all the dust from spacesuits, Moon Dust would be ingested and breathed in – a health risk we will not fully comprehend until we are there.



                              

If you have and ideas for building in space, why not post your comments here!

Building on Mars....you must use the right bricks

Building Regulations not required to build on Mars

Scientists are developing bricks designed to withstand cosmic radiation in the event that people are able to colonise Mars.

The research could also have applications on Earth, such as use in shields around nuclear reactors.

The bricks would be made by mixing the chemical polyethylene, which would be transported from Earth, with the reddish topsoil of Mars.

The first missions to land astronauts on the Red Planet are expected to take place between 2020 and 2025.

Health concerns

Because of the different orbits of Earth and Mars, it is only really possible to travel between the two planets once every two years. So any astronauts visiting Mars might have to stay for a long time.

But living on Mars for an extended period of time raises a number of health concerns.

Unlike the Earth, Mars does not have a magnetic field to deflect cosmic radiation.

Therefore, anyone living on Mars would have to take measures to shield themselves from potentially damaging rays.

story from BBC News

Photo taken from NASA probe, have they found life on Mars? 

Need some Building Regulation advice?

Well you could speak to a Building Inspector....and before starting any building work it is always best to seek professional advice before starting but why not take a look at http://www.buildingbuilding.co.uk/ which may have the answer to your query.

Building an extension.....read this first

Inspection Advice Notes for Building Owners and Builders

Extensions/New Build

Prior notice should be given to the Approved Inspector or Local Authority before commencing work, the 1st inspection will usually be when the excavation is ready for inspection. It is advised at this stage to discuss with the Building Inspector the stages when you should give notice before covering up. Stages to be notified would normally include commencement,excavation,damp-proof course,oversite,drains,pre-plaster(No notice required) and completion.

Foundations

Foundations will be inspected, prior to inspection the excavation should be made ready, for a standard strip footing it would be prudent to note the following however if the ground is bad a Engineered solution may be required.

Excavation depth in clay to be min 900mm and to invert of basements or any drains within 1m

Excavation depth in clay will also be dependant on nearby trees. Guidance can be found from NHBC tree tables or similar

Excavation depth in sandy or granular soils to be min 750mm deep

Foundation concrete to be generally min 600mm wide and 150mm thick for cavity wall

Drains passing foundation trenches to be protected from foundation concrete and masonry

Existing foundations to be checked for suitability of any increased loads

Existing foundations should not be undermined

If poor ground is encountered or any thing that you are not sure of discuss the issue with your Building Inspector or Structural Engineer

Excavations can collapse and care should be taken

for more details and advice on this see http://www.buildindbuilding.co.uk/ 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Here comes the Sun....is now the time to buy that holiday home abroad

Well I have no idea.....but I did see some property for sale in the Maldives available on a 50-year leasehold title, looked great...I may even go on holiday there but I also heard that the islands are slowly disappearing, prehaps a shorter lease then.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist for the RICS is cautious about the propects for this year.

After seeing a couple of property recessions I think I will be cautious every year, anyone out there still buying holiday homes abroad??? How do you do it.....